1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to position or location estimations of mobile communication devices and, more particularly, to updating points of interest (POIs).
2. Information
Mobile communication devices, such as, for example, cellular telephones, portable navigation units, laptop computers, personal digital assistants, or the like are becoming more common every day. Certain mobile communication devices, such as, for example, location-aware cellular telephones, smart telephones, or the like may assist users in estimating their geographic locations by providing positioning assistance data obtained or gathered from various systems. For example, in an outdoor environment, certain mobile communication devices may obtain an estimate of their geographic location or so-called “position fix” by acquiring wireless signals from a satellite positioning system (SPS), such as the global positioning system (GPS) or other like Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), cellular base station, etc. via a cellular telephone or other wireless communications network. Acquired wireless signals may, for example, be processed by or at a mobile communication device, and its location may be estimated using known techniques, such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT), base station identification, or the like.
In an indoor environment, mobile communication devices may be unable to reliably receive or acquire satellite or like wireless signals to facilitate or support one or more position estimation techniques. For example, signals from an SPS or other wireless transmitters may be attenuated or otherwise affected in some manner (e.g., insufficient, weak, fragmentary, etc.), which may at least partially preclude their use for position estimations. As such, in an indoor environment, different techniques may be employed to enable navigation or location services. For example, a mobile communication device may obtain a position fix by measuring ranges to three or more terrestrial wireless access points positioned at known locations. Ranges may be measured, for example, by obtaining a Media Access Control identifier (MAC ID) address from wireless signals received from suitable access points and measuring one or more characteristics of received signals, such as signal strength, round trip delay, or the like. A position of a mobile communication device, such as in an indoor environment, for example, may also be estimated via heat map or radio map signature matching. For example, current or live characteristics of wireless signals received at a mobile communication device may be compared with expected or previously measured signal characteristics stored as heat map values in a database. By finding a signature in a database that more closely matches characteristics exhibited by signals currently received at a mobile communication device, a location associated with a matching signature may be used as an estimated location of the device.
At times, an indoor location of a mobile communication device may be estimated via a visual landmark-type positioning in which one or more visual features of a landmark, such as a logo of a particular store, for example, may be recognized in a digital image captured by an associated imaging device, such as a built-in camera. Typically, in visual landmark-type positioning, locations of visual landmarks (e.g., stores, etc.) may, for example, be known a priori such that recognition of a particular visible landmark in an image obtained at an imaging device may suggest that the imaging device is in visual proximity of, or located in some relation to, the visible landmark. For example, in a shopping mall or like venue, for a given storefront that is currently observed by a built-in camera, a location of an associated mobile communication device may be inversely estimated based, at least in part, on a floor area from which the storefront is visible and/or in a line of sight. In some instances, however, visible landmarks within a venue may change over time, such as if a particular business or store moves out or relocates, for example, which may affect positioning accuracy of mobile communication devices.